Elements of the Leaf
by Kaoupa
Summary: AU: Those who we know as the Gaang decide to join Konoha. With some of the most skilled mercenaries in the world among their number, how will things change in the leaf?


A/N: The Gaang's members are all in their very late teens to early twenties. Also, I have done my best to leave all the pairings in the story somewhat ambiguous; while several members of the group are married, who they are married to is left mostly ambiguous.

This is my first really serious story, so I'm not expecting it to be perfect. It's just a one-shot, though if someone wants to expand it themselves, they can go ahead.

Disclaimer: I do not own either Avatar: The Last Airbender, or Naruto. Both belong to their respective owners, who are obviously not me. I do own any original jutsu in the story.

Konoha: front gates.

"So, who do you think will arrive today?" Kotetsu, one of the shinobi stationed at the front gate asked his partner, Izumo.

"No one important was supposed to arrive today." Izumo responded "The daimyos and nobles all send their arrival dates to Konoha in advance so they can get protected when they arrive, remember?"

"Oh well! Just hoping for something to kill the monotony..." Kotetsu said, but not feeling too surprised. After all, it was two weeks before the exams. Most of the daimyos and nobles either came early to enjoy staying in Konoha, or came near the end of the month because they were disturbed by the idea of spending so much time around so many shinobi not of their country.

Why would anyone come now?

Little did he know, the group who would prove him wrong was coming down the road. "Huh?!" Izumo said, sensing the people coming down the road towards him and Kotetsu.

"What's the problem?" Kotetsu asked, puzzled as to why his friend had gotten so alert all of a sudden.

Izumo hissed under his breath "There are six jonin-level chakra signatures coming this way, and no one important was supposed to arrive today as far as I can remember. Call the ANBU."

"Got it!" Kotetsu said, running to find the phone.

ANBU Headquarters, Konoha.

Normally, due to the peacetime measures, the Konoha ANBU could be considered to be rather laid-back… well, laid-back for a black ops squad. However, recent events had caused the ANBU to deal with events, disturbances, and anything even possibly "funny" with extreme force.

It was good for Naruto that he was too tired to do anything after failing to perform the Summoning Jutsu for the last 2 weeks.

Due to the death of Hayate Gekko _within the village itself_, the Konoha ANBU had been on high alert for some time, and they were about to get even more stressed out, with the phone call just picked up by Yugao Uzuki...

"This is Hagane Kotetsu, chunin of Konoha, serving as one of the current gatekeepers. There are six different chakra signatures approaching the village at low speed, will likely arrive within 10 minutes at their current rate of travel. All six appear to have chakra reserves at least equivalent to an average A-rank shinobi. Need reinforcements ASAP."

Eyes widening, Yugao went for both the main intercom for the ANBU.

Konoha: front gates.

The six travelers were calmly approaching the gates of Konoha. "Wow...quite a reception committee waiting for us." One of the women said, noticing a surprising number of high-level shinobi at the front gate.

"Really? How many?" Another asked, curious as to what her friend had sensed at the front gate waiting for them.

Spreading her sensory jutsu to the main gate a second time, the first woman said after a short time "About… two dozen jonin-level signatures, 2 chunin… I think that's it."

One of the men looked surprised. "Twenty-four jonin? Seems kind of overkill for just the six of us."

"Focus!" Another of the men hissed. "Them being scared of us is NOT a good thing! Or do you want them to try and kick us out, kill us, or something?!"

"No, I don't!" the first man said. "I'm just saying it's kind of surprising!"

"Quiet!" The last woman of the group whirled around, eyes narrowing. "We want to make a good first impression, otherwise they might not let us in!"

"All right everyone, let's just calm down." The last man said calmly, placing his hands on both the duo's shoulders. "We're not going to do anything if we just argue with each other before we even get there."

"Right, now let's get this over with…" the first woman muttered, calmly marching forwards towards the gathered shinobi roughly a hundred yards away, with the others quickly following her, and the man who hadn't spoken yet heading to the front of the group.

Calmly, the Konoha-nin waited at the gates, all of them on alert as the six approached. While they were confident they could deal with the group, they were nevertheless on their guard.

A shinobi who wasn't careful was a shinobi with an low life expectancy.

"State your names, and your reason for coming to Konoha."

The last man to speak stepped forwards.

"I'm Aang, and these are my companions. Katara, Sokka, Suki, Toph, and Zuko."

An eyebrow going up, one of the jonin asked "I recognize you… you're from that mercenary group? The Kadinaru Jun? Why are you in Konoha?"

"We want to join you guys." Toph said in a blunt tone.

The Konoha-nin looked rather surprised at this declaration. Turning to Aang, they received a nod in return, confirming Toph's statement.

"...Very well." Asuma Sarutobi stated, stepping forward. "I will take you to Hokage Tower, under ANBU guard. Be warned however, that if this is a trick, we _will_ kill you."

Katara smirked. "Well, if you're only going to kill us if we try to kill you, I think we can cooperate."

The conversation was interrupted as a large white being landed nearby, with a smaller being perched on top.

"Appa! Momo!" Aang brightened instantly, jumping over to see his two pets.

"What are those?" Asuma asked, pointing at the two animals that had just landed, looking at Zuko.

"Them?" Zuko responded. "That's Appa and Momo. They're Aang's animal companions."

"Animal companions?" Asuma said. "Like a summon or something?"

"Yup."

Looking at Aang as he spoke with his two pets quietly, convincing them that it wouldn't be bad in Konoha, Asuma asked "Is he always like this?"

Smiling, Suki said "All the time. It's really sweet."

Hokage Tower:

"So the six of you wish to join Konoha, yes?" Hiruzen Sarutobi asked, staring at the six shinobi in front of him. "The Kadinaru Jun, hm? I do not recall your group ever doing anything to or working against the Leaf. But I seem to recall there were more of you. And why do you seek to join us?"

Shrugging, Sokka stated "Well, after a while, we decided that while it was nice working for ourselves, it wasn't always easy getting any of the good missions unless we brought down our fines. Things started getting tight, and we had to move around a lot to get any missions for ourselves."

Zuko added "And for why the others aren't here, they're all taking a break. And we wanted to make sure they'd be safe if things didn't go well."

_**If you decided it was a bad idea to let us join and tried to kill us**_ was not said by anyone there, but understood by all.

"Very well." The Third nodded. "However, I would like to have confirmation on your abilities before you join us, so I will know where you would work best. Also, there will be a 6-month period during which you will be not allowed to leave the village without supervision, and I will have one of my ANBU set up houses for you."

"Actually, Hokage-sama… could we just have one big house?" Aang asked, looking at the others. "We'd like it more if we could spend time with each other."

Blinking, Sarutobi stated "Very well. It is just odd that so many choose to live in close proximity constantly."

"Meh." Suki said. "We've lived in close proximity to each other for a few years now, I think we can deal with it."

"Very well." Sarutobi nodded. "Also, I would like to hear how you obtained your skills and all of what you can do. Aang and Ty Lee's… techniques, are not known to anyone else in the world as far as I have heard, Katara-san and Yue-san appear to possess Hyoton jutsu, and rumors say that Zuko was from Kumogakure before he joined you..."

"Er, could we not bring up Kumo if it can be avoided?" Aang asked. Looking at Zuko, he added "It's kind of a sore point for him."

"Very well."

"All right." Katara said. "Er, do you mind if we only tell you what the others can do when they get here? It's easier to remember someone's abilities if you have a face to go with it."

"That would be fine."

"Okay, for abilities… I'm a Suiton expert, a good medic-nin, and I can use Snow's Hyoton, Sokka's great at sealing jutsu and learned from the samurai in Iron, Toph's a Doton master and a sensor-nin, Zuko's good with swords and knows a lot of Katon moves and can stream it with his swords, Suki's good with her sword, shield, and fans and can channel Futon and Katon chakra through them, and Aang's a Futon master, he has Appa and Momo, and he can use monk jutsu and Ninshu."

Sarutobi looked puzzled.

"Ninshu? The supposed ancestor of ninjutsu that the Sage taught to others?"

"Yup." Toph piped in.

"Interesting. I would like to see this in action at a later time. Very well, you may go. You can get headbands at the missions desk. While you are all skilled fighters, you have just joined Konoha and have not worked directly for any shinobi villages previously, and likely are not too familiar with having to deal with multiple superiors and paperwork. As such, for the time being, you are all promoted to the rank of Special Jonin, with any future promotions depending on how well you demonstrate your ability to take orders and work with others. The areas you will be assigned to will be determined after you do a skills demonstration. "

"Hai, Hokage-sama!" The six chorused, leaving the room.

Smiling, Hiruzen thought to himself "_It's nice to have more experienced shinobi in the village. I just wish that recruiting mercenaries didn't involve so much paperwork…"_

Konoha Council Chamber:

Later that night, the Hokage met with his three main advisors. While all of the three had their own agendas, and their beliefs on what should be done, which often differed from those of their leader, they all agreed on one thing.

Konohagakure must be protected no matter what.

"So, they have joined Konoha in order to provide for themselves?" Homura questioned. "Are you sure that we can trust them, Sarutobi?"

"Yes, I am." The Hokage responded. "The Kadinaru Jun have a reputation as extremely moral shinobi, and are all highly skilled and competent. The other members have not yet arrived, but I have faith that they will not try to cheat us."

"And what if this is simply an elaborate trick?" Danzo questioned. "They could have been brainwashed or had seals placed on them by Orochimaru in order to better infiltrate us."

"I am aware of the possibility, and I know that my old student will likely try to infiltrate the village." Sarutobi said. "I do trust these twelve will keep their word if they are honest. I have scheduled an appointment with the village doctors to check their health and any seals that might be on them, and I have already sent some ANBU in order to keep a watch over them, to ensure that they are not spying on us, willingly or not."

Konoha Outskirts: The next day

"…So, this is where our house is supposed to be?" Toph asked. "Cause I don't feel any house here."

The large, desolate area in front of them supported Toph's statement.

"The Hokage said he would get us a house, and told us to go here." Zuko shrugged.

"So… where's the house?" Sokka deadpanned.

"Should we come back later?" Suki asked.

"Don't bother."

The Gaang turned around, noticing the man who had just come up behind them. While he had a Konoha symbol on his headband, brown hair, and overall didn't look very impressive.

"Who are you?" Katara asked.

"I am Yamato. The Hokage sent me here to help you get accommodated in your new house."

"... What new house?" Toph deadpanned, pointing at the large, empty space behind them.

Yamato joined his hands together.

"How many of you will be staying here?"

Blinking, Katara said "There are six more people coming. Why?"

"Wood Release: Four Pillar House Technique!"

A large house grew from the ground, easily big enough to hold everyone there and more.

The six stared at the man who had just used the First Hokage's Wood Release, and then at the large house that he had made with it.

"Oh." Katara said.

"Shall we go in?" Yamato asked.

The six looked at each other.

"Water Clone Jutsu!" Katara called out, summoning several of the watery duplicates. Sokka then tossed them several scrolls, and they all went inside.

"What are they doing?" Yamato asked.

"Setting stuff up." Toph said, walking away from the area. "I'm gonna get to know the place, see you later!"

"Sounds good to me." Suki added, walking away, with Sokka also heading off in another direction.

"Um… would you care to stay?" Yamato turned around, asking Zuko, Katara, and Aang. He had been assigned to watch them, and it would be far easier for him and the other ANBU to do so if they all stayed together.

Also, he wouldn't mind some new poker partners.

Even in the ANBU, everyone's cheating methods got predictable if you played together too long.

"Actually, I was wondering if I could sign up at the hospital here…" Katara murmured, walking off in the direction the hospital was in according to the map the Third had given them.

"I'm heading to the park. Everyone, meet back here later!" Aang yelled the second part, receiving several 'hai' in response.

"Um, would you mind staying with me, Zuko-san?" Yamato asked, looking at him.

"... Do you know any good tea shops around here?" Zuko responded.

Konoha Park:

Smiling, Aang walked into the large forested park, wearing the headband he had just gotten around his right shoulder, whistling cheerfully.

Konoha was, in his opinion, the most pleasant of the five great shinobi villages. While it wasn't the strongest in terms of military since the Kyuubi's attack, it was seen by almost everyone else as the most friendly and approachable of them.

Which was why they had all decided to go live here.

While he loved his friends and wife all very much, Aang had spent a lot of time around all of them recently, whether at home or on duty, so much that he had had almost no time to himself to just sit down and meditate.

Closing his eyes, Aang began to focus on the noises made in the world around him...

"What do you mean _your_ Sasuke, billboard brow?! Sasuke-kun will be _mine_!"

Aaaand, there was the interruption. Just like almost every other time he had tried to meditate. For the last month.

_Why me?_

Sighing, Aang opened his eyes, to observe whoever it was that had disturbed his meditation.

He blinked when he saw the girl with pink hair.

"Sasuke-kun will be mine, pig! He's on my team, remember!?"

"Er… what's going on?" Aang asked, surprising the two girls, who had not noticed the older man sitting on the park bench.

"Oh! Who are you?" Sakura asked, surprised out of her argument with Ino over the statement of the bald, tattooed man sitting in front of her with their village's headband.

"I'm Aang. Who are you?"

"Um… I'm Haruno Sakura, and this is Yamanaka Ino. Why?"

"Well, I couldn't help overhearing you… who's this Sasuke?"

Eyes brightening at the mention of her and Sakura's One True Love, Ino said "Sasuke-kun is the greatest! We were just going to visit him at the hospital."

"He's in the hospital? Why?"

"He was in the Chunin Exams with us, and he's going to the finals! But he got injured in his fight, so he has to take some time off before he can start training."

"You two made it to the Chunin Exams at your age?" Aang questioned, surprised that the two teenagers had made it to the Chunin Exams at such a young age. Most shinobi did not go till they were 16 or older, unless they had trained far harder than the average team did.

Not that he hadn't heard of genin being pushed very hard before by their teachers, but it was rarer in these days since it tended to lead to a lot of stress, and mixing a lot of stress with super-powered assassins was asking for trouble.

Just look at Itachi Uchiha.

"Yeah!" Sakura exclaimed. "I wasn't sure that I would do well at all, but my team managed to make it all the way to the third round preliminaries!"

"Yeah, and that's when we fought." Ino finished. "And I so could have beaten you, billboard brow!"

"Tell that to my fist, Ino-pig!"

Realizing that the two were about to start arguing again, Aang got up from the bench to leave…

When Appa and Momo landed nearby.

"Wha-what is THAT?!" Sakura screamed, pointing at the room-sized animal that had just landed nearby.

"And what is thi-EEK!" Ino shrieked, as Momo scampered up in front of her, easily coming up to her waist in height, even sitting in place with his paws on the ground.

"Please, don't be rude. These are Appa and Momo, my companions." Aang calmly stated.

"Your… companions?" Sakura asked, puzzled.

"Yes. They're my summons. Didn't they teach you about summoning at the Academy?" Aang questioned.

"Er, no…" Ino said. "My dad says Academy students aren't taught about the more powerful jutsu so that they won't try to use them before they graduate…"

Interested now, Aang said "Really? We were taught about the general idea behind them where I came from, but they always observed us when we trained to make sure we didn't try them…"

Curious, Sakura said "Maybe you could come with us to the hospital! I don't know about Ino-pig, but I don't have any plans for later today after we see Sasuke-kun…"

"Sure, I'll come! I could use someone to talk to. I just joined the village anyways, I don't really know my way around." Aang nodded.

"I'm coming too, billboard brow!" Ino snapped. "Asuma-sensei's training with Shikamaru, and Choji's training with his clan. Daddy's at work, and I don't have anyone to work with."

"You don't have anyone else to train with?" Aang questioned.

"Yeah." Ino responded. "Everyone that I could train with is busy."

"So why don't you two train with each other?"

"Because she's my rival and I don't want her to see what I can do!" Sakura snapped at a surprised Aang.

"What do you mean, she's your rival?"

"We're fighting over who gets Sasuke-kun!" Ino screeched. "Whoever of us is stronger will be able to get his attention better! And he's gonna be _mine_!"

"_If I had two girls fighting over the right to see me, I'd probably just stay away from both of them to avoid the headaches._" Aang thought, watching the two girls argue with each other over who would eventually win the heart of their mutual crush.

"Er… weren't we going to go the hospital?" Aang loudly stated, catching the attention of the two arguing kunoichi.

"Right! Let's go, billboard brow!" "After you, Ino-pig!"

As he walked, Aang thought "_These two make Toph and Katara look like they're always pleasant and kind to each other…"_

Konoha Hospital:

In a strange way, Katara both hated and loved hospitals at the same time.

She was a excellent medic-nin, and she enjoyed helping people when they needed it. Hospitals were sanctuaries for those who needed help and were receiving it. If you needed medical aid, you could find it at any hospital, civilian or shinobi, that was worthy of the name. Often, new life originated there, with children and parents waiting for their new sibling or child.

But they were also a sanctuary for those who were effectively beyond help, the children who life never truly gave a chance, and those for whom the only thing left that could be done was to ease their pain.

One of the things that Katara hated about hospitals was the reminder that, no matter how hard people could try, there were those out there that could not be cured of what was ailing them.

The idea that there were people out there beyond help was not one that pleased her at all.

"Um, please excuse me, miss!"

Blinking, Katara watched curiously as a girl with buns in her hair rushed past her, heading into the next room. Realizing that she had been standing in the middle of the hallway, Katara quickly started to move again, only to hear the sound of coughing and hacking as she passed the doorway.

Quickly turning back and heading into the room, Katara blinked when she saw a girl on the floor with long black hair… who appeared to be coughing up blood.

Snapping into what had been dubbed by her friends as her "business mode," she went to the girl's side. "What happened to her?" Katara demanded, wanting answers quickly.

Surprised by the unknown woman across from her who seemed to have taken over the situation, Tenten said "This is Hinata Hyuuga. She was injured really badly in the preliminaries for the Chunin Exams… But she was doing better the last time I saw her!"

Reaching her hands down to start the healing process, Katara was, to her surprise, interrupted by one of the nurses. "I'm sorry miss, but you're not a nurse. It's against policy to allow shinobi who aren't members of the hospital staff to treat our injured-"

"Unless there's no other choice, right?" Katara interrupted. "That's the rule in most of the villages."

"Yes, ma'am. You may stay here if you wish, but you can't treat her." The nurse replied, as her comrades picked up Hinata and began bringing her back to her room..

Nodding, Katara went to sit next to Tenten.

Katara began "How did she get like this? She was badly injured internally, but there doesn't appear to be any external damage to her body."

Mentally feeling slightly guilty, even though she had been in the medical wing during Hinata's match with her cousin, Tenten stammered "Er… her name's Hinata Hyuuga, firstly. And my teammate Neji Hyuuga did that to her…"

Eyes widening in shock, Katara nearly yelled "Her own family did that to her?!"

"Yeah…" Tenten quietly said.

"Has he been punished?" Katara asked.

"No." Tenten responded. "They fought in a free-for-all. Technically, he didn't do anything that was against the laws of Konoha."

Katara began muttering under her breath "Why does it seem that I always run into families whose members have homicidal intentions towards each other?"

"So, um... what's this Neji like?"

"Well, he's a Hyuuga. They've always been really… well, arrogant." Tenten replied. "But Neji's a genius, so he can sort of get away with it."

Shaking her head, Katara said "That's still stupid. Taking an enemy lightly, no matter who they are, is a good way to get yourself killed. I've healed plenty of wounds my brother and my friends got when they weren't taking things seriously..."

Slightly surprised, Tenten asked "You're a medical ninja?"

"I can do a lot more than just healing, but yes, i'm a medical ninja." Katara responded.

"What's it like? I mean, being a medical ninja? I've always admired Lady Tsunade, but I never really tried out being a medic…"

"Well, I guess the whole being a medic thing just came naturally to me. I've always liked helping people out when they needed it. My parents were shinobi too, but i've never really been the sort of person who enjoys killing people to make money…"

Nodding, Tenten said "Yeah, i'd rather be a guard than an assassin any day of the week. Er, what's your name? I'm Tenten Higurashi."

"I'm Katara Ripuru. I just joined the village, actually."

"Really? What were you doing before?"

"Well, me and my husband, brother, and friends were all doing mercenary work. It was basically what people do here, but we got to pick and choose what we did. But we decided that it would probably be less of a headache to work for a village, and we sometimes got attacked by missing-nin who wanted to cash in our bounties. That's honestly a big reason why we decided to join, it was getting tiresome fighting them. And a few of us died in the last attack before we managed to drive them off…"

Quietly, Katara thought back to that day, when Jet and Song had met their ends at the hands of the rouge Kumo-nin… and that Taki-nin made of black tentacles.

The black and red cloaks they had worn would adorn her nightmares for the rest of her life, she was sure of it.

Shaking her head, she snapped back into reality upon realizing that Tenten had been talking.

"You have a husband? Who's the lucky guy?" Tenten smirked, wondering who her new friend was taken with.

Katara started to speak, but stopped upon feeling a chakra signature that was very familiar to her close by…

Smiling, she got up. "Here, i'll introduce you to someone I know."

Right after she said it, Aang, Ino, and Sakura walked into the room.

The Burned House, Konoha Bar.

"So, how do you like your first bar experience so far, Shikamaru?" Asuma asked.

"Meh. Troublesome." His student responded. "My mom would probably kill me and you both if she found out that I was here."

"Well, seeing that she's not going to be coming in here and neither of us intend to tell her about this, I think I can say confidently that we are safe from womanly retribution." Asuma smirked.

"What was that again, Sarutobi?" Kurenai Yuuhi questioned from behind him, scaring him and making him sweat in his seat.

"Er… I said that we were safe from Shikamaru's mother retaliating against both of us for me bringing Shikamaru into a bar and Shikamaru not really doing much to resist it…"

"Against you, yes." Shikamaru responded. "I can say with confidence that you basically dragged me in here so that you could grab a drink, a smoke, and lunch, and that any attempts by me to talk you out of it failed."

"...Traitor…" Asuma muttered under his breath.

"Now then, if you don't want me to blab about you forcing me into a bar to someone important… go buy lunch. I'd like some red bean puffs."

"I want some dango." Kurenai said calmly.

Muttering about students and fellow teachers too cheap to pay for their own lunches, Asuma nevertheless got up and walked to the counter. On his way there, he noticed a rather odd spectacle: Mitarashi Anko chatting with someone who he couldn't see from this angle.

Well, flirting might be more accurate on Anko's part.

Curious who the newcomer was, Asuma advanced, to overhear the newcomer speak.

"...It's not that you're not attractive, it's just… i'm married. Sorry."

"Really? That's not really a problem for me, I can deal with her if you need…" Anko smirked.

"Not the point! I am happy, thank you!"

"Yeah, yeah, that's what all the nobles the boss sends me to assassinate say…"

Looking as though he wanted so scream, Sokka pulled out a scroll, unrolled it, and channeled chakra through it… making a cup of sake appear on the table in front of him.

"Just… will you go away, please?"

"Trolling another married man, Anko?" Asuma deadpanned. "I'm pretty sure that the Hokage usually gets fairly annoyed when you to it to his men."

"Feh, it's not like he does anything serious." Anko waved her hand in a dismissive manner. "The worst that he's done was to have me do guard duty for a few days. Sucked, but it wasn't that bad."

"And all the lawsuits filed against you for seducing married men when they were drunk to buy you alcohol?"

"They were just sore losers!"

"If you seduce someone's husband, they're usually gonna complain about it…" Sokka deadpanned.

Sitting down, Asuma began talking with Anko and Sokka once he had made the orders for Kurenai and Shikamaru. However, he also forgot to go up and get the orders once he had gotten into a conversation with the two.

20 minutes later...

"Asuma, where have you been?" Kurenai asked, walking up behind him with Shikamaru.

"Yeah, I haven't gotten my bean puffs yet." Shikamaru sighed.

"Talking to the ex-mercenary and Anko." Asuma deadpanned, nodding towards Sokka, who waved at the genin and jonin.

Observing the man in front of him, Shikamaru said "So you just joined up, huh?"

At the nod from Sokka, he muttered "troublesome" under his breath, as Kurenai smiled and said "Welcome to Konoha!"

"Why does Asuma have to get food for you?" Anko hissed. "Why couldn't you get me some too?!"

"I didn't know you were here, Anko." Kurenai flippantly answered. "And go ahead, it's on Asuma's tab."

"...Damn freeloaders and blackmailers... " Asuma muttered as he got up, already knowing that Anko would want dango.

"Getting blackmailed over a lapse in judgement that was the result of bad luck or a poor decision?" Sokka whispered in his ear.

Asuma nodded.

"...Welcome to the club, bro."

Elsewhere:

"You know, I really wish we could have gone with the others to Konoha on the first trip." Teo said, sealing the last of the his possessions into a sealing scroll.

"You know what Aang said." Mai responded. "Our job is to get everything packed up and keep an ear out for anything that might be important. At least we know they're okay, since we got that scroll."

"The Konoha-nin could just be faking us out... " Haru muttered under his breath.

"Haru, no offense, but you always see the bad stuff in everything!" Ty Lee chirped happily. "Sometimes people do just want to help you. There are good people out there!"

"Yeah, yeah, you always say that…" Haru muttered under his breath, leaning against the wall. He wasn't in any hurry to leave for Konoha, even if his other friends were all there.

"Is Satoru done packing all the equipment and his manufacturing blueprints?" Teo asked, sticking his hands to the wall with his chakra to get down the stairs. "I've got all of the jutsu scrolls."

Mai shrugged. "Last I heard, he was headed out to his workshop to get them. You know how much stuff that he has out there."

"Yeah." Haru said. "He's practically got a miniature factory in that place."

"That workshop IS a miniature factory." Teo deadpanned.

"I'll go check." Yue headed out the door, to go check on how the engineer was doing.

Walking out the door, Yue took note of the large amount of area around the property that the twelve of them jointly owned. While the majority of the area was open, there was a large steel shop which took up 100 feet on each side a good distance from the house, which served as the joint living/working space of Teo and Satoru for a good portion of the day.

Or at least, it usually was, since the area was now empty.

"What-" Yue was stunned.

"Hey Yu. You get all of your stuff?" Satoru asked, walking up to her.

"Satoru! _Where's the workshop?_!" Yue was shocked by how her friend could be acting so casually when a large portion of their property had somehow gone missing.

"Right here! I'll have to thank Sokka later for setting up the array." Satoru said, holding up a scroll.

"...You sealed your workshop inside a scroll?"

"Yup!"

"...Remind me to ask Sokka for advice on sealing."

Konoha: Back Road

Walking down one of the narrower back alleys, Toph calmly breathed in and out, enjoying the air of Konoha and her vacation. She was staying at one of the most pleasant and well-guarded places in the world, to watch a bunch of aspiring shinobi beat the living crap out of each other at the tail end of her visit and hopefully get a bunch of missions that involved beating people up in the near future.

Could life get any better?

At that precise second, a massive gust of wind blew over the fence and past her, carrying several pieces of wood and metal with it.

"Temari, what the heck was that for!?"

"Sorry, Kankuro! I didn't know that you were practicing there!"

"Kankuro, accept her apology. It would be annoying to have her going after you or trying to apologize for the rest of the day."

"Err… I'll let it go, Temari, if you give me a hand finding the rest of the parts. Kami knows where they all got scattered to..."

Picking up several of the pieces, Toph jumped over the fence and into the training ground. "Oi, are these what you're looking for?"

Looking at the unknown woman, Kankuro said quickly "Yeah… thanks, I guess."

Shrugging, Toph started to walk off, only to be blocked by…

A wall of sand?

Before she could fully react, the sand formed a sphere around her.

"Um… Gaara, what are you doing?" Temari asked, clearly slightly worried as to why her homicidal little brother was going to do to the woman who had just helped them. While she wasn't going to stick her neck out and get killed too, she wasn't interested in seeing someone who had just helped her get turned to a bloody pulp if there was no point in it.

"Mother wants blood…" Gaara said in a monotone voice.

"Geez, these kids today…" Toph muttered, already performing hand seals.

Making a crushing gesture with his right hand, Gaara mentally ordered his sand to implode, crushing all inside it.

He was rather surprised when the sand, instead of crushing the woman, only contacted other sand.

Looking at the area, Gaara growled upon seeing overturned grass, which did a poor job of concealing a closed tunnel.

Several hundred yards away, Toph surfaced in another training area, hidden between several trees.

"Geez… if that's what he tries to do to people who haven't even done anything to him, i'd hate to see just what he does to people who piss him off…" Toph muttered, rather disturbed that someone could be this mentally unsound and still be a shinobi.

Jumping away from the area, Toph thought "_Hope that kid doesn't go after his teammates…"_

Konoha Hot Springs:

"One, please." Toph said, placing down several ryo notes at the front desk.

"The women's baths are down the right hall, and on the left side at the end." The attendant said calmly. "And the changing rooms and towels are in the second door on the left."

After she had put her clothes away, Toph walked out to the hot springs, wearing nothing save her swim trunks. Calmly lying down in the warm water, she sighed happily, enjoying her time off.

"_I wonder what the others are doing?"_

Calmly, Toph spread out her sensory jutsu, searching for where the rest of her comrades were in the village. Aang and Katara were together, no real surprise there… Suki appeared to be in the same area, and Sokka and Zuko were both off by themselves, none of them anywhere near her.

Then, she noticed the enormous chakra level of someone nearby.

"Who the heck is _this_?" she thought, as the person she was examining had some of the biggest chakra reserves that she had ever seen, if not _the_ biggest. They were about 100 feet or so away, and appeared to be practicing something…

Then, she noticed the other large (though smaller) chakra source nearby, who was a lot closer to the hot springs than anyone who wasn't bathing actively should be.

Calmly, she placed a hand on the rocks, extending her "tremorsense" to the area that the second person was in.

The heightened heart rate, proximity to the baths, and the fact that her tremorsense said they appeared to be giggling, told Toph everything that she needed to know.

Calmly, Toph got out of the bath and walked into the main room, changed into her normal clothes, and then walked out of the bathhouse, going around to behind the fence.

"You know, I'm pretty sure peeping is against the law in Konoha." She said when she was about twenty feet behind him, catching Jiraiya off guard entirely.

"Eh?! It's not peeping! It's research!" Jiraiya hissed under his breath.

"Research for what, exactly?" Toph deadpanned. "Research on the many ways kunoichi can kill you slowly, or how long you can stay close to a hot spring before you get caught?"

"No! It's for my series!" Jiraiya said, pulling out a copy of Icha Icha Paradise.

"...Okay, what's the series?" Toph asked.

"What? You can't see it!? Jiraiya whispered loudly. "Are you blind or something?!"

"...Actually… yeah." Toph responded, waving a hand in front of her eyes.

"...Oh." Jiraiya said. "I must say, it's rather a shame for such a pretty young lady to have a problem like that. The Blind Bandit, if i'm right… Would you like some help around the village?"

"Get a life, Pervy Sage! And you said you would _train me!_"

"Shut up, brat!" Jiraiya hissed at Naruto. "Anyways, milady, would you like some help in getting around?"

"Okay, two things." Toph said. "Actually, three…"

"And they are..?" Jiraiya bowed politely as he smirked.

"One! I'm taken, and quite happy, so get lost. Two! I can use tremor-sensing to see things, so I can get around just fine. And three!... Does your book come in braille?"

"Indeed it does!"

"_Heh… another convert…"_

"Do you take suggestions for your books?"

"Um, if I think it's a good idea, sure."

"Well, I've got this story that's been going around in my head, but I'm not really good at writing. Honestly, it's what two of my friends got up to before they got married. Oh, and if you sell this, I get some of the profit, got it?"

Konoha Tea House:

Watching as people came in and out of the shop, Zuko calmly sipped tea.

"Thank you for bringing me here, Yamato-san." Zuko calmly spoke to the other man at the table.

"Er, it's no problem, Zuko-san." Yamato responded. He had to admit, he was fairly surprised that Zuko had asked to go to a tea house in the middle of the summer. Even in Konoha, drinking hot tea on days this warm was generally seen as strange. "And you did ask for a good teahouse. May I ask why?"

Zuko looked rather taken aback by Yamato's question.

"Well… all right, to be honest, it's because it reminds me of my uncle. He always loved going to teahouses when I was staying with him."

"Your uncle?" Yamato asked, curious as to who he was. While he was aware of the general outline of Zuko's background, he didn't know everything about it, since he had just skimmed over it to get to his job of watching him.

"Yeah. You've heard of Iroh?"

Yamato looked rather surprised. "The Storm Dragon of Kumo? He's your uncle? The former second in command to the Third Raikage?"

"Yup."

"So he watched you while he was retired?"

"Yeah. He always loved to drink tea. Honestly, I never liked it all that much, and I still don't have it all the time, but... It reminds me of him."

Sighing, Zuko quietly gazed into the distance.

"Er, Zuko-san? We were speaking about the present?"

Zuko snapped back to attention. "Oh, right."

"What exactly did you do after you left your uncle?"

Zuko slowly nodded.

"Well, at first, I just went on the road to travel. I met Mai eventually, and the two of us just decided to work together, and since I was never an official shinobi of theirs, Kumo didn't really pay attention to me. After a while, we met Aang, Katara, Sokka, Suki, and Ty Lee when all of us were on a mission together to protect a bureaucrat. We found we worked together pretty well, and we just stuck together afterwards, and eventually we met everyone else, and they joined us too."

Konoha:

It was a lovely day, in Suki's opinion. The sun was in the sky, the grass and trees were all green, and the temperature was surprisingly low for the Land of Fire.

That there was probably an ANBU following her and noting her every move didn't even concern her in the slightest.

Nevertheless, it was a rather nice day.

Though going to a training ground would be seen by much of the world as a strange way of relaxing, Suki had been training, often without any real teacher, since she was a little girl. Whenever a problem showed itself in her world, her first instinct was always to go train, and often blow something up.

And suddenly, she heard a loud "YOUTH!" coming from behind her.

Swiftly turning around, summoning her fans to her hands, Suki prepared for a possible fight…

Only to see what had to be one of the most bizarre scenes she had ever witnessed.

A man was running on his hands towards her, with enormous eyebrows, a… _bowl-shaped haircut_, a Konoha chuunin vest, and… a _green_ _bodysuit_?

Before Suki could jump out of the way, the man managed to stop, less than two meters away.

"My apologies, ma'am! I did not see you there during my training!" yelled Maito Gai.

"Um… what?"

"My daily training time! I have challenged myself to run around Konoha one hundred times on my hands!"

"...Why?" Suki questioned, amazed that someone would do something that bizarre.

"It is my daily training session!" Gai yelled. "Also, I am doing it to honor my student…" Gai looked at the ground, his mood visibly becoming more depressed.

"Your student? What's wrong with him? Did he… die?" Suki asked, surprised by the strange man's downturn in mood.

"No…" Gai responded sadly. "He was horribly injured in the Chuunin Exams by his opponent. The doctors say he may never be able to be a shinobi again…"

Seeing the man's distress, Suki said after a short pause. "... I might be able to help. One of my friends is a pretty good medic…"

Eyes widening, Gai said "I appreciate your offer of aid! But Lee has been in the hospital for two weeks, and he still requires crutches to move…"

Suki shrugged, then added "Er… what's your name? We haven't been introduced yet…"

"Ah yes! Where are my manners, not introducing myself to such a youthful flower? I am Maito Gai, Konoha's Sublime Green Beast of Prey!"

"Nice to meet you… I'm Suki Zhandou."

"Yosh! The Suki who has just joined the village? It is an honor both to meet you, and an honor to welcome you to Konoha!"

"Er… yeah, I just joined." Suki was rather overwhelmed. This man was even more energetic than Aang was when he was younger, and was even faster than he was then.

And seriously, _what_ was up with the guy's eyebrows?

"Once again, welcome! I have heard that your skills mainly lie in the field of weaponry and taijutsu?" Gai jumped to his feet, giving her an enormous smile and a thumbs-up.

Smiling at the subject going to something that she could understand and speak about rather easily, Suki responded "Yeah, i've always preferred those fields, especially when I get to slice someone who deserves it up." She smirked at the memory of several particularly horrible missing-nin or crime lords that she had turned in the bounties of personally.

"Could you come by and train with my team later? We are scheduled in Training Ground 8 tomorrow! My female student has a similar skillset to yours, and she would doubtless enjoy training under you!"

"Okay, I wasn't really interested in doing anything tomorrow anyways…"

The Gaang's new house: the Girl's living room.

"So you ran into Maito Gai? Is he as crazy as the stories say?" Katara questioned Suki.

"No, he's not _that_ crazy." she responded. "The stories about his training methods were true, but he was pretty friendly when I met him."

Shaking her head at the words of her friend, Katara nevertheless dropped the subject.

Suki asked "So, what did you do today?"

Shrugging, Katara said "I went to the hospital with Aang, and we looked around Konoha for a while."

"Hey guys! What's up?" Toph exclaimed, dropping in on Katara and Suki's conversation.

"Hey Toph." They both chorused.

Suki added "Well, for what we did, Katara went to the hospital and explored the village with Aang, and I ran into Maito Gai."

"Maito Gai's the local taijutsu nut, right?"

A sweatdrop formed on Suki's head as she said "Er… yeah, that's him."

"So Toph, what's Satoru been up to?" Suki asked.

"Any new inventions or creations coming out yet?" Katara added.

"Nah." Toph responded. "He's still working on improving that whole production line thing. Course, with the way things are going, it's doubtful anyone will ever use it except to make more kunai and shuriken…"

"Yeah. Didn't you hear, though? A rumor is going around that some companies are thinking about buying his machines to make some non-combat stuff." Suki said.

"Honestly? I wouldn't be surprised, but if it is, he's forgotten to tell me…"

The men's living room

"So how was your day with Katara?" Zuko asked Aang.

"It was good. We walked around the hospital, met a few of the Konoha rookies, and took a hike for a few hours. And we got some ramen at some place called Ichiraku's."

"Did you get anything for me? I'm hungry."

"Sokka, you're always hungry. And no, neither of us did."

"Awww-"

"Sokka, shut up!" Zuko snapped. "You constantly complaining about how we never get you food doesn't make us want to get you any!"

Konoha: Hidden Location

"So you asked to meet with me to warn me that Konoha has added a few extra mercenaries to its ranks?" Orochimaru said calmly as he spoke with Kabuto.

"Indeed." Kabuto responded.

"And what makes you think that this will make any real difference to the outcome of the invasion?"

Choosing his words carefully, Kabuto stated "Lord Orochimaru, I agree that none of them are strong enough to fight you directly. However, Aang-san is well-known to be on par with me and Kakashi-san, and the other five with him are almost as strong as he is. I am simply saying that several more jonin of that level may make the invasion more complicated than it will already be, perhaps we should take extra precautions to deal with them…"

Orochimaru looked amused by his underling's concern. "And how would you have me do so? Send more Suna-nin here and possibly alert Konoha? Bring forth more Edo Tenseis when the two Hokage I already have will be more than enough to annihilate the village? Hire Sasori, Azula and the rest of the Akatsuki to aid me? We will do just fine as we are."

"Very well, Lord Orochimaru…" Kabuto acknowledged his master's orders, and jumped away.

Konoha: Chunin Exams Stadium.

2 weeks later

"Woo-hoo! Go, Naruto!" Toph yelled, finding herself to be cheering for the kid. She guessed it was because she had swiftly developed a huge dislike of Neji Hyuuga after hearing about him from Katara and what he had said about how "fate determines all."

Seriously, a family member who tried to kill their own cousin for something they hadn't even done? First with Zuko's family, and now with the Hyuuga, it was making her feel a lot better about how her parents had treated her before she became a kunoichi.

Being overprotected and always having an eye kept on you by some guard was pretty sweet compared to when your family members tried to murder you.

She was fairly surprised to find out the Uzumaki kid was the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, though. While it was easy enough in the first place to recognize that the red chakra was inhuman, it was also rather simple to work out that the kid had to be the nine-tails jinchuuriki, since it was impossible to actually destroy a Bijuu.

Oh well, it's wasn't like she cared about that. She hoped he didn't just rely on those two jutsu his entire career, though. A predictable shinobi was a dead shinobi, and she honestly liked this kid already, perverted teacher aside.

Several miles away, Kakashi Hatake sneezed, realizing that he had to get Sasuke to the Chuunin Exams before his match started.

"Why did everyone else have to leave again?" Sokka asked.

"The Hokage wanted them to go out on a mission to see what they were capable of, from what he told me." Katara responded.

Kankuro yelled "I withdraw!", surprising everyone there.

"Candidates Temari of Sunagakure and Shikamaru of Konohagakure, would you please both report to the field!" Genma hollered.

Aang sweatdropped as, while Temari calmly descended on a fan…

Shikamaru appeared to have been pushed down by Naruto…

Of course, the amazement quickly gave way to interest when Shikamaru sent his shadow towards the girl.

"So the kid's a Nara, huh?" said Suki. "That's a Nara clan jutsu, I think…"

"Nara? What's a Nara?" Toph asked.

Shaking his head, Zuko said "The Nara are one of the clans of Konoha, well-known for using jutsu that allow them to manipulate their shadows in many ways. They're also known for almost all being geniuses at tactical aspects and for being incredibly lazy…"

Katara smirked. "Sounds like Sokka's kind of clan."

"Yeah. Hey, look!" Sokka exclaimed.

Returning their attention to the field, they noticed that Shikamaru had managed to get his vest to work as a makeshift parachute, and was using it to get his shadow closer to Temari…

And at the end, he missed.

"Dammit! He almost had her! At least, I think so." Toph said. She then yelled "Go, Shikamaru!"

"Isn't it strange that she's cheering on someone that she doesn't even know and hasn't placed a bet on?" Suki muttered to Aang.

Aang shrugged.

"Not really. Isn't that pretty much what everyone does for sports in general?"

Having no good response to that, Suki said nothing, instead focusing back on the field, where Temari had gotten very far away from Shikamaru.

"Why doesn't she get further away?" Suki asked. "If she stays close to him, she just plays into his hands…"

"Well…" Sokka pondered. "His jutsu appears to have a range as to how far it can go, and it will get longer as time goes on since the sun is getting lower. However, she appears to have a maximum range for her wind jutsu… if it goes past that range, her move loses too much power to do any damage."

"So… how does she beat him?" Katara asked. "If she goes close enough so that her jutsu works, she gets within range of his jutsu, and if she stays out of range, her jutsu can't hurt him."

"Wait, aren't those holes connected?" Zuko asked, pointing to the two holes in the ground on the field… that had both been made by Naruto when he fought Neji.

Before any of them could give a full answer, Temari had been frozen solid by Shikamaru's shadow.

Later…

"I still can't believe he gave up." Toph muttered, having gotten somewhat angry that the kid she had been favoring to win had forfeited.

"He was low on chakra, just like he said he was." Zuko said. "He wouldn't have been able to do much against his next opponent even if he went on. Giving up was the best option: besides, it's always a good thing to have someone that smart working with you, so it wouldn't be a big surprise if he got promoted. The only real issue is how lazy he is..."

"He's a Nara: with their reputation, are you really that surprised?" Suki stated.

"No, I was just noticing…"

"This Sasuke kid is good." Aang mused, ignoring his friends as he focused on the current match, and the kid who was currently speeding past Gaara's defenses too fast for him (A/N: Gaara, not Aang) to keep up with entirely.

"He's the last Uchiha, right?" Sokka asked. "Well, besides that brother of his."

"Yeah, those two are the last ones, as far as I know." Aang agreed.

"Hey, what's he doing?" Katara questioned, noticing that Gaara had shielded himself with his sand.

"Looks like he's going to try and make it impossible for Sasuke to get through to him and just attack at will." Sokka mused.

"Yeah, looks like he's figured that out." Zuko said, pointing to the Uchiha, who had retreated to the near top of the arena...

And was now concentrating his chakra?

Not saying anything, the six watched (or in Toph's case, sensed) what Sasuke was doing.

They were not disappointed, especially when Sasuke channeled a huge amount of chakra into his hand, charged down the arena towards Gaara, and stabbed the move right through the sphere of sand.

"Kid's got some good moves in him…" Toph said.

"Want to bet he makes it to chunin?" Suki asked Katara.

"No bet."

All of a sudden, Toph stopped talking when they noticed a rather disturbing chakra coming from Gaara.

Chakra that, while not as strong as the chakra coming off of Naruto earlier, was still far stronger than the chakra of any normal human, and bore a similarity to Naruto's chakra.

"Guys… I think the Gaara kid has another bijuu in him." Toph hissed, instantly killing whatever conversations the rest were having.

"Should we stop him?" Sokka asked. "I can grab a seal from my bag, it should be able to seal off some of the chakra…"

Before any of them could decide what to do, they decided to focus on other matters.

A burst of smoke coming from the Kage's box, the genjutsu they were all seeing/sensing being cast over the stadium, and the loud "Commence Operation!" broadcast over the entire stadium took precedence, even over a jinchuuriki, after all.

Instantly getting into combat position, Aang said "Toph, start sensing. Find out what's happening."

Before Toph responded, she grabbed the head of an Oto-nin who had gone after them, and slammed him into the floor.

"From what I see, Konoha's getting invaded… by Oto and Suna." Suki bluntly stated, taking note of the headbands on the shinobi that had attacked Toph, and the ones who were engaging the Konoha-nin.

"Okay, this is interesting… hey, where'd that Gaara kid go?" Zuko asked, looking around the arena and failing to see anyone with a gourd on their back. Turning around, he asked Sokka "All right, what do we know?"

Sokka responded "Okay… invasion of a ninja village, by two other villages. Currently, the unstable jinchuuriki of the Shukaku has gone missing, and is presumably up to no good…" Looking into their leader's eyes, he said "All right, Aang, what are your orders?"

Aang was silent for a few seconds. "All right, here's what we do." Looking around, he said "Currently, the Hokage…" he gestured to the barrier on the roof- "appears to be incapable of joining the battle, and is fighting what appears to be the missing-nin Orochimaru. A jinchuuriki who appears to have a rather weak seal design is missing, and will possibly release his biju at some point, and Suna and Oto are launching a joint invasion of Konoha."

The authority in Aang's voice got stronger.

"Everyone, we're going to aid the Hokage. He's the only one we know of that might know how to deal with a Bijuu."

Konoha Rooftop:

So far, this had been a decent day for Kidomaru.

He had started the day by putting on a disguise, which he had then been forced to "split" with Jirobo. While normally, spending long periods of time in close quarters with another Sound-nin, especially Jirobo, would be a rather unpleasant thought, he had both gotten to be the "upper half," of the disguise, and the knowledge that he was not getting stuck with Tayuya.

It greatly amused him to know that Sakon and Ukon were being subjected to having to be near her for a long time while they were physically touching.

Now, he had aided in the creation of a barrier that held both his master Orochimaru, and the Hokage of Konoha, a major player in keeping the shinobi world stabilized, and the man who his master sought to kill.

Much like his master, the idea of war and death across the entire shinobi world amused him: so many enemies to kill, so many deaths to observe, so much pain to cause…

Was there any better sort of fun for a six-armed man?

However, now he had to focus on the situation in front of him: namely, the six shinobi who had just jumped to the roof in front of him along with the squadron of ANBU.

"How soon can you get through it, Sokka?" Suki asked, ignoring the six-armed man in favor of focusing on her comrades.

"Well, there's four of them, Suki, so the jutsu's actually a lot stronger than you'd think. I don't think I can get through it by myself, honestly."

"Who is that?" Suki asked, pointing to the figures inside of the barrier in front of Orochimaru.

"Me? I am Kidomaru of the Sound Four, you pieces of tra-"

"Not you. _Them_." Sokka said, pointing inside the barrier, frowning for a few seconds…

Then, his eyes went wide.

"Isn't that… the First and Second Hokages? Aren't they, you know, _DEAD?!_"

"Edo Tensei…" One of the ANBU murmured.

"What's that?" Aang asked.

The ANBU quickly explained what the Edo Tensei was, and watched the faces of the rest of the Konoha-nin whose faces he could see grow shocked.

"Okay, we have to get through the barrier. Any ideas?" Toph said.

Zuko simply looked at Aang.

"Um, Zuko, why are you… oh, come on. You want to do THAT?" Toph hissed, looking a lot less amused than she had before.

"Well, Aang could break through if he used it, and the Hokage doesn't seem to be doing too well…"

As if to punctuate Zuko's words, the Third was kicked back by the First and Second Hokages.

Toph did not look happy. "All right, just end it fast, Twinkletoes…"

Aang nodded.

"What are you doing?"

Katara said calmly "It's a...combination technique we have. We should be able to break the barrier with it, but we'll still have to deal with the First and Second afterwards."

Without missing a beat, another of the ANBU turned on his radio.

"This is Ox. All ANBU who are not occupied with the invading forces are to report to the barrier above the stadium. We currently have a plan in motion to possibly destroy the barrier. The First and Second Hokages have been summoned by Orochimaru with the Edo Tensei and are currently combating the Hokage. Proceed with extreme caution."

There was no sounds of confirmation over the radio, but somehow, everyone there knew that the order had been received.

Turning back to the six, the ANBU blinked when he saw that five of them had their hands on Aang.

Aang breathed in.

"Ninshu: Spiritual Convergence."

Aang's eyes glowed as the other five fell to the rooftop, apparently unconscious, and almost without chakra.

However, the now vastly-increased chakra reserves, not to mention the conflicting chakra signatures coming from Aang, told the ANBU everything they needed to know about what had just happened.

"He… transferred their spirits into his body?" One of the ANBU murmured, amazed. "I don't think even the Yamanaka ever came up with something like that…"

As this was being said, the combination being was going through hand seals at a rapid pace, and had retreated to another rooftop. The ANBU quickly leaped after it, bringing the unmoving forms of the other five with them, wondering what would happen next, but thinking it would likely be impressive.

They weren't disappointed.

Aang inhaled… summoned a massive lance composed of water, wind, fire, and earth… and released it at the corner of the barrier containing Kidomaru.

The elemental lance collided with the barrier, and after several seconds, broke through.

The mess left of Kidomaru was rather spectacular, in a macabre way.

"Ugh… I hate it when we have to do that."

The ANBU blinked at Toph, who appeared to have gone back into her body.

"It always feels… weird. I mean, a bunch of different people stuck in the same person's head?"

"Oh, stop whining, Toph." Katara said, getting up and shaking her lethargy out. "We have a job to do."

And with that note, the group of shinobi and the mass of ANBU jumped towards the rooftop and the site of the broken barrier.

Chunin Exams Stadium Rooftop:

Orochimaru had to admit, the battle was not going well for his side. He had been confident in the ability of his underlings to maintain the barrier well enough to hold off any possible intrusions. Failing that, he had confidence in the ability of the First and Second Hokages to handle the ANBU and the six ex-mercenaries, and then assist him in besting his former teacher.

However, he had not anticipated that the recently joined mercenaries would be able to break the barrier and eliminate his subordinates, or that the First and Second might have been able to break the Edo Tensei's hold, forcing him to weaken them in order to control them.

The result was that while the First and Second were occupied fighting the mercenaries, Orochimaru was going alone against his former teacher and a large squad of ANBU, one of which appeared to have survived one of his earlier experiments, judging from the Mokuton techniques they were launching at him.

Elsewhere on the Roof:

"Have to admit, i'd have laughed if someone had told me earlier today that i'd be fighting the Second Hokage in a few hours." Suki murmured, using a Shunshin to get out of the way of a Water Dragon that her aforementioned opponent had just launched at her, throwing a wind chakra-charged shuriken at the Second.

The projectile went right through his leg, and didn't even make him pause in weaving seals.

_"Water style: Crashing Tides!"_ Tobirama released a massive blast of water from his mouth.

"Collaboration Jutsu: Mud Wall!" Releasing streams of water and earth from their mouths, Katara and Toph generated a wall of mud, blocking off the attack.

"Do we have anything for beating this guy?!" Suki yelled, taking shelter behind the mud barricade.

"We can't! He's got a huge edge in sheer power! We'll have to stall him somehow till we can get help!" Katara said, finishing a jutsu that launched ice spikes from her pouch, which failed to penetrate a water wall that Tobirama summoned. "We can't beat a Kage by ourselves!"

Elsewhere in Konoha:

"Okay, as of today, I officially hate the Mokuton!" Sokka yelled, jumping back to avoid getting impaled by the many wooden stakes erupting from the ground where he had just been standing.

"You have a very long list of things that you hate, Sokka!" Zuko yelled, using a fire jutsu to propel himself out of the way of many more stakes.

"And I hate them all for good reasons!" he said, summoning a large metal sheet from a tag on his wrist, and using it to block another storm of wooden stakes fired at him.

Releasing a blast of wind to block the spikes that had been released at him, Aang smiled as a blast of wind hit Hashirama from above, knowing it had come from Momo and Appa.

Inhaling a second time, he released a gust of wind towards the leaf storm that the First had just summoned, sending them spiraling in the opposite direction. Zuko followed that up by spraying the area with dozens of fireballs.

"He's regenerating, guys!" Sokka screamed, noticing that the First wasn't even fazed by their attacks.

"We know!" Aang yelled in reply. "Just keep blasting him so he doesn't have time to use any jutsu!"

Sarutobi and ANBU vs Orochimaru:

Hissing in frustration, Orochimaru jumped out of the way of a katana, several large wooden stakes, and a massive fireball in swift succession. While he was than a match for any one of the combatants here, he could not take them all on at the same time. He knew this, and so did they.

He had seen how the ex-mercenaries were doing against his enslaved Kage, and as much as he hated to admit it, he could see no true victors at this time, except for the group fighting him.

There was nothing to do but admit it. He would have to return to destroy Konoha another day.

Slamming his hands onto the ground, he summoned several massive snakes, and then sunk into the earth.

Hokage Tent, 2 days later.

"Why did we agree to come to this again?" Toph muttered, sitting down in the large tent that had been set up as a temporary replacement for the destroyed Hokage Tower, which had collapsed during the battle between the Konoha-nin and Orochimaru's snakes after their master had fled.

"Well, the Hokage invited us." Katara deadpanned. "You know, our _boss_?"

"Yeah, but couldn't we have just sent some clones to stand in for us?"

"Well, we might have if it wasn't for the fact that the Hokage's orders were that all special jonin and jonin were to come to the meeting in person."

"Yeah, yeah…"

"...And thanks to the efforts of all of Konoha, we have managed to hold off Orochimaru's assault, and have made peace with Suna." Hiruzen finished. "However, there are still many wounded, civilian and shinobi, who have yet to recover from the battle. For this reason, I am sending a party out to search for Tsunade so that she may aid us in their recovery."

"Who's going to be in the party?" Kakashi voiced what most of the Jonin there were also thinking.

"I have asked Jiraiya to head out and look for her, and he has requested to take Naruto Uzumaki with him. Anyone else who wishes to go with them for the search may volunteer should they please."


End file.
